Team Icarus

https://github.com/IrfanNafiz/Space-Sim-Prototype

https://youtu.be/_Yc1IiDZc7k

Parker Solar Probe was the first human made object to “touch” the sun. Parker Solar Probe is one of the greatest scientific landmarks of history. After the moon landing in 1969, touching the sun was the most revolutionary achievement of NASA. It opened many doors about the mysteries of the sun’s atmosphere such as, why is the corona much hotter than the Sun's surface? The Solar Probe has collected and is still collecting enormous amounts of useful data about the sun and its surroundings. 

It is impossible for any human being to get anywhere close to the sun. So, our project is to develop an experience of Parker Solar Probe’s journey towards the sun. Anyone can experience the journey from the beginning to the end without actually being in the space craft. The user will be enlightened with a variety of information about the whole journey.

• Rocket Launching: The rocket engine will fire up and the payload that is the Parker Solar Probe will start to leave the surface.

• Trajectory Setting: The trajectory of the solar probe has to be set by the user by changing the initial velocity vector.

• Venus Flyby: To leverage the gravitational pull of Venus, Parker Solar Probe will fly near Venus so that the trajectory around the sun will be changed in order to get closer to the Sun.

• Death Plunge: At the end of the journey The Solar Probe will make it's final plunge into the Sun.

Development Process

At first we designed the game from a high-level overview. We planned the sequence of the game levels such as Rocket Launching, Trajectory Setting, Venus Flyby, Death Plunge etc. Then we added details to our levels.

1. Rocker Launching: In this level, we created a 3D model of Delta 4 Rocket in Blender and Imported this model in Unity. To fire up the rocket we used Unity’s Particle System to simulate the smoke and fire. Then we used Unity’s Physics System to animate the acceleration of the rocket.
2. Trajectory Setting: After the rocket leaves the Earth, the user has to set the trajectory of the Solar Probe. For visualizing the Solar Probe we used the 3d model provided on NASA website. We used C# language to simulate and visualize the trajectory of the Solar Probe and In the scripting phase we developed an N-body Simulator from scratch which allows the solar probe to perfectly traverse the trajectory according to the laws of gravitation.
3. Venus Flyby: For this level, we again used the NASA provided 3D model of Venus, Sun and Solar Probe and used our previously developed N-body Simulator to simulate the gravitational boost from the Venus Flyby.
4. Death Plunge: After Venus flyby We visualize the end Parker Solar Probe will eventually be directed towards the sun. The part by part destruction of the solar probe is also scripted in C# language.

Tools That We Used

• Unity
• Blender
• ShaderGraph
• ShaderScript
• Visual Studio Code Editor
• C# programming language
• Adobe Photoshop
• Canva
• DaVinci Resolve 18
• Audacity

Usage of 3D models

We used NASA provided 3d models in our game. First of all, we imported the Parker Solar Probe model in our Trajectory Setting stage, Venus Flyby stage, and in the Death Plunge stage. In the death plunge stage, we successfully simulated the destruction of the solar probe model. We also used the model of the Sun and Venus which were also provided by NASA.

Usage of Numerical/Text Data

We used data from various sources to present information about Rocket, Parker Solar Probe, the Layers of Sun’s atmosphere etc. These information pop up when the user faces toward the corresponding object. They help the user to learn a lot about the whole mission. 

Our team, Icarus, constitutes of members that collaborated from 3 different institutions, out of our common love for astronomy and making an impact in the world. We consider challenges as an opportunity to grow, and develop ourselves so that we can manifest that ideal.

We want to make the world more inquisitive about the achievement and the milestones set by Parker Solar Probe and the mysteries it is trying to unfold but in the most immersive and compelling way possible.

Throughout this journey one of our main challenges apart from handling the tech stacks and incorporating everything together was to narrate the complexities of this engineering marvel in the most digestible way so that anyone can grasp it easily. 

We would very much like to thank BASIS for organizing such a well-strategized local event for Nasa Space Apps Challenge 2022, and mentoring us continuously throughout the last few months via bootcamps and endless support.

NASA OpenSource Data

• Sun 3D Model:https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2352/sun-3d-model/
• Venus 3D Model: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2343/venus-3d-model/
• Parker Solar Probe FlyBy Video: NASA/APL/NRL
• Parker Solar Probe Sun Atmosphere Captures: NASA/APL/NRL
• Parker Solar Probe 3D Model: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2356/parker-solar-probe-3d-model/
• PSP Orbital Trajectory
• Live Orbital View

Unity Documentation

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/index.html

Blender Documentation

https://docs.blender.org/

Research Sources:

• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
• https://www.nasa.gov/
• https://www.planetary.org/ 

#art #vr #videogame #game #immersive #ParkerSolarProbe #spaceprobe #probe #mixedreality #googlecardboard #gamedevelopment